Lisa Moyer
Lisa Moyer
God’s timing is perfect, so when He called for a church to be planted in the western part of South Carolina, the Columbia Midtown Adventist Church heard the call, and the small rural town of Batesburg-
Leesville, S.C., was selected. A multitude of signs pointed to fields ripe for harvest in this area, and several members attending the Midtown Church lived in the vicinity of this town.
The initial challenge was to find a place to worship, but God already had that worked out! In His foreknowledge He knew there was a congregation that would open its doors to this small group of Adventists — the Mount Hebron Lutheran Church, which was just outside the town limits. At that time, Mark Bredholt, pastor, who has since retired, was the pastor of this church. He was well acquainted with Seventh-day Adventists, having worked for the Adventist hospital system in Florida. Due to his influence, the Mt. Hebron congregation welcomed the infant Adventist church plant to become established.
Group status was obtained in March 2015 with 16 members, and then company status quickly followed in September 2015 with 30 members. The climb to church status was five long years, filled with many obstacles and challenges. The congregation grew together as a body of believers dedicated to bringing the last-day message of Jesus and His soon return to their little corner of the globe. Then, on May 11, 2020, the Carolina Conference Executive Committee granted church status to the Batesburg-Leesville Three Angels Company. The church was dedicated in a ceremony on Sabbath, November 21, 2020, with Gary Moyer officiating.
The Three Angels Church is dedicated to outreach. The church has a part-time Bible worker who, along with his wife, is teaching members how to visit and give Bible studies. Membership has grown to 64 as a result of this effort.
The church also has an internet radio station, 777 Radio. 777radio.org now has a regular listening audience of more than 1,000 in the United States and in 17 other countries. The numbers have increased significantly since the station came online this year, and God’s Word is reaching the little town and the world.
The challenges in the small town are significantly different than those in the city. Cultural tradition is a major barrier; however, no matter what the challenge, the past five years have shown that the bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity for God to reveal Himself and His plan for His people. Praise God for what He has done for the Three Angels congregation in the past, and what He will do for His church in Batesburg-Leesville in the future!
Carolinas | March 2021
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